Stories about climate change make the headlines on a daily basis, and according to the most recent Gallup Poll taken in 2012-Click Here-the majority of Americans believe global warming is real.
52% of Americans, according to the above Poll say the effects of global warming have already begun to happen, consistent with views since 2009. However, this remains down from prior years, when as many as 61% believed global warming was already manifesting itself.
Americans' belief that the media exaggerate the seriousness of global warming rose sharply between 2006 and 2010, mainly because of a shift in Republicans' and independents' views. Democrats also grew a bit more skeptical during this period, but never more than 25% held this view.
Since 2009, two-thirds of Republicans have continued to say global warming news is exaggerated, while independents' skepticism has eased slightly, as has Democrats'.
I have big news for the climate change deniers:
It was just announced that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide surpassed a notable milestone this week.
They reached a daily average above 400 parts per million, reported NOAA, for the first time in human history.
The milestone, hit on May 9, may be symbolic, notes Climate Central, but man made CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels continue to rise, bringing greater atmospheric warming and exacerbating the effects of climate change.
Scientists argue we've loaded the "climate dice" in favor of more weather anomalies and extreme heat waves.
Research also shows that continued emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide will mean "largely irreversible" climate change for 1,000 years even after we curtail emissions.
"The last time we're confident that CO2 was sustained at these levels is more than 10 million years ago, during the middle of the Miocene period," stated climate scientist Michael Mann.This was a time when global temperatures were substantially warmer than today, and there was very little ice around anywhere on the planet."
Readings are taken at the NOAA operated Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii and form part of the Keeling Curve, a continuous record of CO2 measurements dating back to 1958.
Bubbles found inside Antarctic ice core samples provide a longer record of CO2 in the air for the past 800,000 years.
CO2 measurements surpassed 400 ppm in the Arctic last summer, but the readings from Hawaii mark the first time prolonged levels above 400 ppm have been observed at more moderate latitudes.
Global carbon dioxide levels fluctuate over the course of the year, reaching an annual peak in May. These CO2 levels indicate a cycle which reveals how trees and vegetation remove more CO2 from the air during the summer, until the annual minimum is reached in October.
However, despite mounting scientific evidence that the planet is warming, there are many people who loudly proclaim that global warming is nothing more than a hoax.
In February, business "magnate" Donald Trump, cited snow, a popular argument for climate change critics, as proof that global warming is a myth."With the coldest winter ever recorded, with snow setting record levels up and down the coast, the Nobel committee should take the Nobel Prize back from Al Gore," the tycoon Donald Trump told members of his Trump National Golf Club.
During a visit to his granddaughter’s school in March,
musician Ted Nugent told the children to say no to drugs, alcohol and
tobacco. At the end of his speech, a student asked about global warming
to which Nugent replied, “Global warming is a fraud. Watch Glenn Beck.”
Senator James Inhofe is one of several Republican senators who don't believe in global warming, but this Oklahoma politician is particularly vociferous about his beliefs. In February, his family built an igloo near the U.S. Capitol and labeled it "Al Gore's new home."
In a speech to the U.S. Senate in 2003, Inhofe said, “With all of the hysteria, all of the fear, all of the phony science, could it be that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? It sure sounds like it.”
"When it’s hot, we get shade.” Rep. “Smokey Joe” Barton (R-TX), said in a congressional hearing on adapting to climate change, March 25, 2009.
“These global warming studies are a bunch of snake oil science." Former Governor Sarah Palin, stated at a logging conference in Redding, California, February 8, 2010.
"Nancy
Pelosi" is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where
she has said she’s just trying to save the planet. We all know that
someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet, we didn’t
need Nancy Pelosi to do that.” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), telling OneNewsNow that the US doesn’t need environmental advocates because Jesus already has got that covered, August 2008.
Really, how comforting that Jesus told Rep. Bachmann we need not worry. Perhaps she should change her statement to a better sound bite, Alfred E. Neuman's signature line, of "What, Me Worry?"originally created by "Mad Magazine".
“According to the University of Illinois’ Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979.”, said George F. Will, columnist of The Washington Post, supporting his claims that glacial retreat caused by global warming is a myth, February 15, 2009.
Actually the “University of Illinois’ Arctic Climate Research Center” does not exist, and the scientists at the university who conduct Arctic research reprimanded both Will and the Post for publishing non-factual claims.
After reading the above illustrious "experts" claiming that climate change doesn't exist, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that climate change is occurring, almost solely due to man/woman made pollution and abuse of the environment.
Not convinced yet? Below are the most popular myths used by the climate change deniers.
Myth #1: The science of global warming is uncertain, and not all scientists believe in it.
Fact: There is no debate among scientists about the basic facts of global warming.
While not all scientists may agree that humans are causing global warming, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, “the most respected scientific bodies have stated unequivocally that global warming is occurring, and people are causing it by burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests.”
In 2005, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences issued a joint statement with 10 other National Academies of Science saying, "the scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action. It is vital that all nations identify cost-effective steps that they can take now, to contribute to substantial and long-term reduction in net global greenhouse gas emission.”
Myth #2: Global warming will be beneficial. Higher levels of carbon dioxide will increase crop growth and reduce cold-related deaths.
Fact: Global warming has serious consequences that will far outweigh any benefits.
Although carbon dioxide can stimulate plant growth in certain circumstances, scientists say this “CO2 fertilization effect,” will diminish as plants adapt to changes in the environment. Plus, extra carbon dioxide may benefit undesirable plant species, such as weeds, more than crops.
Also, increasing carbon dioxide levels cause ocean acidification, which can have adverse impacts on marine organisms. In fact, the oceans have already absorbed about 50 percent of the carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels.
While warmer weather may sound good for people and animals, a warming climate can actually have devastating effects. Melting glaciers and rising seas would flood coastal towns and contaminate water supplies. Plus, global warming contributes to extreme weather events like droughts, floods and heat waves, which could be deadly.
Myth #3: Recent cold winters and snowstorms indicate that global warming isn't occurring.
Fact: Different parts of the world may experience snow or cold weather, but the global trend is warmer winters.
A year of cold weather in one region isn’t evidence of a trend in
the global climate. Measurements reveal that the Earth’s climate has
warmed overall, in most regions, during the last century, according to
the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
Myth #4: People aren't causing global warming,it's part of a natural cycle.
Fact: The global warming the Earth is experiencing isn't natural.
Scientists have proved that deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels are releasing more carbon dioxide into the air, which is the main cause of global warming.
Since 1985, scientists have known that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide trap heat, and scientific study has already ruled out natural explanations like volcanic eruptions and sunlight.
It is clear to me that the current historic levels of CO2 in the atmosphere is serious and reflects a critical, perhaps point of no return in saving Earth.
At the very least, it means that the toxic poisoning of our environment has reached levels never before this high, and that a continued prolonged exposure to this, not only will eventually destroy agriculture, farming, the food chain, animal chain, human chain, but people are getting ill, dying now from the climate disasters that keep happening all over the world, as well as being exposed to the toxicity of the air we all breathe.
It already may be too late and will be too late at some point to save what is left of our ecosystem.
The only question now is whether the relentless rise in carbon dioxide can be matched by a similar rise in the activism necessary to stop it.
I don't see that activism happening since Corporations control the energy policy of most Countries, greed feeds the weak environmental laws, propaganda dumbs down a large part of the public, and so it begs the question of what will happen when the truth can't be denied any longer.
The answer I fear is, it won't matter, we will self destruct as a world.
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